Appointment Day!

Appointment Day! Not much sleep last night, too excited of course. We knew our appointment was at 12:30, but we had to go to the NAC with Kostya early because he had a meeting at 9:50. We waited for him and watched several families go in and out, emotional and anxious are understatements! When he was done, we walked to the mall (we walked A LOT) to get something to drink…and wait.

We went back at 12:30, and as we guessed, they were ready to go to lunch, so we had to come back at 2:00, more waiting. We came back and went right in, it was a long hallway adorned with pictures of adopted children and their happy families. Our hearts were pounding as we entered the “room”. It had tables for about four families to look at pictures of orphaned children, and in the back was our table. We sat down and introduced ourselves to the counselor. She asked us what we were looking for and we kinda stumbled through our answer, knowing God would show us. As we looked through many stacks and books, region after region, our hearts sank as we saw child after child knowing they would probably never be adopted. Our hearts grew heavier still because after an hour, we had not found our lamb, and the realization we may leave without her began to sink in.

The Director came in (I guess wondering what was taking us so long) and asked Kostya what exactly we were looking for, he explained and she in turn sent her counselor to her desk to retrieve the information for a little boy (who turns 2 on July 22nd) that just came into the databank that day. As soon as we saw it, we knew the Lord was working, it had a little yellow sticky attached that had the name “Elizabeth”, he had a sister! I knew exactly what Jennie was thinking and she knew I felt the same way. We said we wanted the little boy AND his sister. The only issue was, he is immediately available for adoption, but she was not until September (paperwork I’m sure).

The Lord is so good, just when our hearts cried out, He faithfully showed us the next step in His plan. This was about 3:30, and we were just getting started, we now had to rely on Kostya and weigh our options. Initially, we thought it was possible to go get the boy and return in September for her (she turned 3 on June 21st). So we and Kostya sat down and handwrote a document to request an appointment date in Sep and promise to return, he translated it and had it notarized. As Kostya was running back and forth trying to figure out the next step, my mind was racing with questions, we knew nothing about this girl, how healthy was she, etc?

Jennie and I prayed right there in the hallway for wisdom and direction. We were then informed that the Director actually wanted to talk to us, which is highly unusual. Our hearts and minds raced again as we went in to see her, she asked us if we understood the circumstances and if this was what we wanted, we did not hesitate to answer yes…and then it happened…they showed us the picture of her…a beautiful curly blonde doll baby of a girl! You could hear our hearts melt, the Lord had saved His best. Neither child had any major health issues other than common developmental issues from being in an orphanage. But because they will not separate siblings, we had to wait til September 1st.

Now we have to plan another trip to Kiev and then to their region of Donetsk, but we have seen their pictures, and we know! It’s heartbreaking to leave without them, but God’s timing is absolutely perfect and He will watch over them. Many more details than space, but I hope this update conveys just how special this day was!